The present invention relates to an absorbent article such as a sanitary napkin, a panty liner or an incontinence protector for women, comprising an absorbent body that is sandwiched between a liquid-permeable and a liquid-impermeable outer sheet, wherein the article has a front part, which is intended to face forwards when the article is worn, and a rear part, wherein the absorbent body tapers rearwardly from a section of widest width situated in the front part of the article to the end of the rear part thereof, and wherein the ratio between the broadest part of the absorbent body and its narrowest part is greater than 2.
A sanitary napkin of this kind is intended to be worn inside so-called string panties, which are extremely narrow in the rear part of the crotch portion of the napkin. It is also desirable to provide sanitary napkins intended for string panties with outwardly projecting wings or flaps that can be folded around the edges of a pair of panties and fastened to the outside thereof and/or to each other, as such flaps have been widely accepted in the case of napkins that are intended to be worn under conventional panties or underpants. It is also important that the narrow rear part of the absorbent body is held securely in a correct position when worn so as to avoid leakage, and it is therefore necessary to design and position the fastener flaps in a manner which facilitates correct positioning of the narrow rear part of the absorbent body when placing the napkin in a pair of string panties.
The present invention aims to design the flaps of a flap-equipped absorbent article in the form of a sanitary napkin, a panty liner or an incontinence protector for women intended to be worn in a pair of string panties so as to facilitate correct positioning and safe retention of the rear part of the article when the article is worn. Another aim of the invention is to provide flaps that when the napkin is worn are able to follow the edges of the panties in the crotch part thereof, therewith enabling the napkin to be placed readily in position and providing maximum security in wear.
These aims are achieved with an absorbent article in the form of a sanitary napkin, a panty liner or an incontinence protector for women that includes an absorbent body or pad sandwiched between a liquid-permeable and a liquid-impermeable outer sheet and which includes a front part that is intended to face forwards when the article is worn, and a rear part, wherein the absorbent body tapers rearwardly to the end of said rear part, from a section of widest width situated in the front part of the article, and wherein the ratio between the widest part of the absorbent body and its narrowest part is greater than 2, wherein said absorbent article is characterised in that the article includes outwardly projecting flaps made of flexible material and extending outwardly on respective sides of the absorbent body along a portion of the narrowing part of said body, wherein said flaps have outer longitudinally extending edges which in the unfolded state of the flaps are inclined relative to the longitudinal symmetry axis of said article at an angle such that the distance between the outer sides of said flaps and the longitudinal symmetry axis of the article will decrease in a direction towards the rear end of the article, wherein the outer longitudinally extending edges of the flaps in the unfolded state of said flaps are each inclined to the longitudinal symmetry axis of the article at a first angle which is greater than the angle of slope to the longitudinal symmetry axis of a first imaginary line that passes through the outer limitation point of the absorbent body in its widest part and the outer limitation point transversely of the rear end of the absorbent body on the same side of the longitudinal symmetry axis as the edge in question, but which is smaller than three times said slope angle. Flaps of this design enable the available surface area of the string panty to be utilised to a maximum for fastening the rear part of the absorbent article while ensuring that an inwardly folded flap will not extend beyond the side edges of the article.
In one preferred embodiment, the first angle is equal to or greater than two times the angle at which the first imaginary line is inclined to the longitudinal symmetry axis, and the width of the fastener flaps at their widest part is equal to or smaller than half the width of the absorbent body in that part thereof which, in the longitudinal direction, lies level with the points at which side edges of the absorbent body intersect two second imaginary lines that extend perpendicularly to the first imaginary lines from respective widest points of the fastener flaps. At least two strings of adhesive are applied to at least one of the flaps on that side thereof which lies on the same side of the article as the liquid-impermeable outer sheet when the flap is unfolded, said strings extending parallel with the longitudinal symmetry axis of the article and being mutually offset both longitudinally and transversely, wherein when the article is flat each rearwardly lying string of adhesive will be situated closer to the longitudinal symmetry line of the article than the forwardly lying string. The flaps preferably form integral parts of the outer sheets. At least one string of adhesive is applied to that part of the sanitary napkin that includes the absorbent body. The adhesive strings consist suitably of a pressure-sensitive glue, conveniently a hotmelt glue. The strings of adhesive applied on the flaps will conveniently overlap each other in the longitudinal direction and are preferably rectangular in shape. An imaginary line that extends through the outermost corners of the strings on the same flap as seen transversely will preferably have the same angle of inclination to the longitudinal symmetry axis of the article as the outer longitudinally extending edge of said flap, whereas an imaginary line through the innermost corners of the adhesive strings on said one and the same flap as seen transversely will have a smaller angle of inclination to the longitudinal symmetry axis of the article than the outer longitudinal edge of said flap.